ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Central Banks' First-Half Gold Buying Surpasses 2010 Total – CNBC Central banks have bought more gold in the first half of this year than in all of 2010 as a long-anticipated reversal in so-called "official sector" sales gathers pace, a gold group reported on Thursday. (tags: gold central_banks)
“Fed May Launch New Round of Stimulus.” So rang the headlines. The Federal Reserve seemed poised to launch another round of quantitative easing if only it had a weak economy to generate the proper excuse. An Associate Press article about steel stocks suggested that the market’s rally was specifically about the prospect of potential stimulus: … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} This piece is a follow-up post to “Preparing for Profits in a Resource-Constrained World” (Part 1) in which I discussed the implications of Jeremy Grantham’s fundamental thesis of a new world where resources are … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Two months ago or so, a friend directed my attention to Jeremy Grantham’s GMO Quarterly Newsletter for April, 2011 titled “Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever.” … Read more
In mid-May, I warily eyed copper as it looked ready to lead the correction in commodity prices into a complete breakdown (see “Silver Fails Resistance; All Eyes on Copper’s Support“). However, over the past six weeks, copper prices have held firm by clinging to the 200-day moving average (DMA) line of support. Source: Stockcharts.com This … Read more
Copper Sector Set to Shine on Growing Demand – TheStreet Even though copper is down from its all-time high of $4.62 a pound, analyst reports continue to project that robust demand from China will help boost prices toward the end of 2011. On the supply side, analysts say that copper is in the midst of … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, an article from China Daily titled “Rare-earth supplies expected to grow” was blamed for the weakness in several rare earth stocks like Molycorp and Lynas Corp. Ltd on June 16th. The article contains … Read more
The recent trading action in Molycorp (MCP) has deeply disappointed MCP bulls. The stock has gone from a bullish technical setup to today’s oversold conditions in the space of two weeks. Inserted into this sell-off was MCP’s move to get a stock offering and convertible deal done. The announcement created a tremendous overhang on the … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) It only took two days for Molycorp (MCP) to officially roll out the pricing of its secondary share offering and convertible notes. MCP indicated these deals were “subject to market conditions”, and market conditions may … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) First, Molycorp (MCP) looked poised for a rally. Soon after that, the technicals turned, indicating pressure was building for a big move. I hedged, but I remained bullish. Last night, MCP made two financial announcements … Read more